Clint Harrison is a gunfighter who has been on the run from a vengeful family for years. He returns to his home town to discover that his wife has taken his son and fled north to escape his unsavory reputations. Following her in an attempt to make amends, he rides into the middle of a land-grab war between a group of desperate farmers and an unscrupulous rancher named Shannon and his brutal foreman. Promising his wife that he won't use this gun, Clint must stand by as Shannon's men eliminate the farmer's in a series of well-staged set pieces calculated to make the audience anticipate the inevitable moment when Clint is forced to turn his guns and settle accounts.

In 19th-century France, doctor's wife Emma Bovary seeks to escape her dull provincial life through various extramarital affairs and extravagant spending, leading to tragic consequences.